Assistance for New Department 5 January 2012
The College of Kecskemét has founded a new department with EU funding. Metropol talked to Deputy Chief Financial Officer Gabriella Földesi.
A new department was launched in the autumn semester. How often does this occur in the life of an institution?
– Changes in an organisation occur from time to time. In this case, we had schools of which we made departments. We turned four schools into five departments. The fifth one is in a special position. The Vehicle Technology Department was created in response to a substantial demand for vehicle engineers. We signed a contract with Mercedes, which built a plant in Kecskemét, to lay down our commitments.
What are the opportunities that Mercedes offers to students?
- Graduating students can complete their compulsory internship, and graduates can find employment. In addition, in autumn we will introduce a special practice-oriented engineering programme, one-of-a-kind in the country. Students admitted from the autumn semester will complete their practical courses within this new programme at the host companies. Students will work for the companies all year round, including summer, with only two weeks of holiday, but will earn money during their years at college.
How many applications are you expecting for the new programme?
- From September 2012 onwards, both vehicle engineering and practice-oriented engineering will serve a group of 20-25 students, and the number will increase progressively. The mechanical engineering programme already includes specialisation for vehicle manufacturing engineers.
Do you think you could have achieved these developments without EU funding?
- Human resource development was carried out without external funding, but the EU funds were of great help for the building and its infrastructure. We are talking about a three-storey building with an area of nearly 2000 sqm, a rolling road, a body shop and vehicle diagnostics laboratories, which would have been impossible with our own funds. The total tender amount was HUF 1.5 billion, with 5% of own contribution but we previously spent an additional HUF 6 billion of other tender funds to develop our teaching infrastructure and student services.
(The students received a special award at last year’s Shell Eco Marathon.)
Source: Metropol